


King Danny

by brunettachoppa687, TTICSY (phantomofthefandoms)



Series: The Things I Could Show You [17]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: M/M, Minor Violence, Reincarnation, off screen implied sex, off screen past death, off screen underage relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 10:25:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3764662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brunettachoppa687/pseuds/brunettachoppa687, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomofthefandoms/pseuds/TTICSY
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even when you're already half dead, reincarnation can be a BITCH.  Past romances, betrayals, death... This one has it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This episode of our series is inspired by the canon DP episode King Tuck, but we have made a LOT of changes. Enjoy!

“Thanks again for bringing me to the museum, Vlad!”

Danny smiled happily as he looked around at the large Egyptian display, Vlad chuckling in amusement beside him.  Lancer was going over Egyptian and Roman history this week, and had prepared a short field trip for Friday after school for his class.  However, this had interfered with some of Danny’s ghost training, and Vlad stepped in to get him out of going with the rest of the class.  As his tutor, he promised Danny WOULD go to the museum and see the exhibit, but he would be going Monday after school earlier in the week.  Lancer agreed, and so there they were!

Danny was enjoying himself a lot, actually.  Since this wasn’t a school trip, he and Vlad could explore the museum at a more leisurely pace.  They had just entered the new Egyptian display, and hung back behind a tour to listen to the tour guide.  They came close as she led them before a life sized effigy of a young Pharaoh.  

Danny blinked, surprised to feel a weird sense of deja vu as he gazed at the effigy.  The painting showed a young man standing proudly, a scepter in one hand and his other raised high to the heavens.  Unlike most Pharaohs, who had their heads shaved, this Pharaoh had long, nearly waist-length, straight black hair.  He wore very little it seemed, save for a silk drape around his waist and many gold jewels around his throat and wrists and the mantle on his head.  But Danny found himself drawn to the young man’s eyes…

Instead of chipped away paint, it seemed someone had inlayed them with bright, blue gemstones…

“Pharaoh Daalahmon was one of the youngest Pharaohs to rule at only the age of ten.  However, according to the hieroglyphs at the bottom of this effigy, he had a short reign and died at the age of sixteen,” the tour guide explained.  “No one is sure WHAT led to the young man’s death, but archaeologists speculate that the young ruler was betrayed by someone he trusted, but they have yet to figure out who, yet there do seem to be signs he had some form of guardian, or even a lover, present in his life.”

The tour moved on to stand before a towering golden sarcophagus.  It was covered in hieroglyphics and jewels, as well as a strange mirror embedded in its center.

“And here lies the Pharaoh’s most trusted and loyal servant, Hotep-Ra,” the woman continued.  “According to the engravings here, Hotep-Ra was so distraught by the young Pharaoh’s passing, that he vowed to rise once more when his master had been reincarnated.  This is why a mirror had been built into his own sarcophagus, so that when the likeness of Daalahmon appeared before it, Hotep-Ra would once again walk amongst the living!”

The tour oohed and ahhed before the guide led them away, leaving Vlad and Danny in the room alone.  Vlad went over to take a closer look at the Pharaoh’s scarab scepter, eyes narrowed in that way of his when he felt he should know or recognize something.  The scepter seemed awfully familiar…

“Handsome young pharaoh, wasn’t he?” Vlad called out, teasing, to Danny.  “Daalahmon.”

He straightened, stroking his van dyke.  “I’ve done a bit of research of my own about him.  It is speculated that the boy had a very close relationship with his adviser, Padiaset… however, it was odd… despite that, I found barely any mention of Padiaset in the older manuscripts.  There are no effigies, barely any record of him.  Like someone had tried to erase him from history.”

Vlad glanced back at Danny.  His eyes softened, fondly watching the eighteen-year-old’s dark ponytail bounce as he looked around at the various displays.  “Seems someone had a grudge against the both of them~”

Danny chuckled, glancing back at his mentor and lover.  “Sounds like the beginning of one of those tragic love stories~” he joked.

He came over to stand beside Vlad, looking up at the scepter.  “It’s perfectly intact, well preserved…” the young man remarked.  “That’s a little odd, isn’t it?”

Vlad sobered suddenly at that.  He glanced around to make sure there was no one within earshot – these museums were monstrous with echo – and leaned close to Danny’s ear, murmuring.  “Unnaturally so,” he agreed under his breath.  “Can you sense it too?”

His cobalt blue eyes flicked up at the gem-encrusted scepter.  “This object is radiating spectral energy…”

Danny came closer, placing a tentative hand against the glass.  His brows furrowed.  “Yeah… Yeah, I can feel it.”

He pulled his hand back, frowning.  “It’s not a possessed item, more like… charged?” he mused.  “Yeah, it’s still charged with whatever memories and powers were passed onto it from the last person who wielded it…”

He glanced over at the effigy, nodding to the young Pharaoh.  “It’s his, right?  For such energy to still be held within the scepter after all these years…”

Danny’s eyes softened with sadness.  “It had to have been a murder…” he murmured.  “Or something that triggered a strong emotional response around the time of his death… How terrible…”

Vlad’s brows furrowed.  “Yes…”

They stood there for a moment – a moment of silence for the undoubted sadness behind this ancient, mysterious death. After a few seconds, Danny glanced around, searching for something to distract him from the strangely potent sinking feeling in his chest…

And suddenly noticed the mirror glinting at him from across the room.  It felt… It felt like it was calling to him…

Slowly, he approached the sarcophagus.

Vlad glanced around at him.  “Daniel?” he called.  “What are you–”

Danny’s own reflection looked back at him in the enchanted mirror.

BOOM!!

Both half-ghosts jumped back, eyes wide as the sarcophagus bucked violently – shattering the glass around it – and began to rumble.  The floor shook beneath them!  Cracks spidered through the marble!  The golden coffin creaked, enveloped in blazing light –!  And then, the air of thousands of years ago swept through the room, the smell of sand and desert sun blowing Danny and Vlad’s hair back over their shoulders–!

And then, a towering mummy stepped forth from the sarcophagus.  

“I…  AM…”

Hotep Ra threw up his hands, eyes blazing against the light of his resurrection.  “RISEN!!”

A huge gust of desert air and ghostly power blew through the room, sending Danny skidding across the floor and Vlad to trip and fall back behind another display.  The older man’s head smacked against the floor, leaving him dazed for a few moments.  

Meanwhile, Danny toppled to one knee, eyes squinting as he tried to see past the sand and the bright light.  Finally, the room cleared, and he looked up in shock and annoyance at the mummy-like ghost standing before him.  

//Great, can’t even go to the museum without things going south…// he thought.

Just then, Danny realized Vlad wasn’t beside him anymore, and he began to look around worriedly for him.  “Vlad?”

The sound caught the ghosts attention.

Hotep Ra glanced down, scowling like he had spotted a cockroach he was going to squash…!

Then, he recognized the dark hair.  The pale blue witch-eyes.  The youthful flesh… older than the one he had seen all those eons ago, but the same nonetheless.  

“My Pharaoh!” the mummy gasped.  He walked forward, falling to his knees and bowing to him.

Danny reeled back a bit in shock.  //What?  Pharaoh?//

He glanced up then, eyes locking on the effigy once more.  Vlad had hinted that Danny looked a great deal like Daalahmon…  But was his likeness so great that he was fooling this ancient ghost as well?  Surely they weren’t that similar…

Still…  

He COULD use this to his advantage.  There were too many cameras and people around the museum for Danny to safely transform, he needed to get the ghost to leave of his own accord so Danny could deal with him later.  So maybe… Just maybe…

“You’ve caused quite a mess Hotep-Ra, do you wish to out me in front of all these mortals?” he scolded, using his best imitation of Vlad’s scary disappointed voice and prayed this worked.  “You best leave now before more damage is done!  Seek me out later, if you must.”

Hotep Ra raised crusty eyebrows at the ground.  He was already channeling the Pharaoh!  Oh, good…

Keeping his head down, the mummy ghost nodded eagerly.  “Yes, my Pharaoh!  I shall wait until you call upon me!” he enthused, and disappeared in a swirl of sand and ancient cloth, leaving Danny behind… alone with a room of Egyptian artifacts…

And no scepter.

Danny heaved a sigh of relief.  He couldn’t believe that had worked!  He heard some more people rushing into the room, looking at the mess in horror.  Danny counted his lucky stars that ghost attacks had become a common thing lately, and enough people had seen and run from the original rising of Hotep-Ra to keep he and Vlad from getting into trouble.  Speaking of Vlad…

Danny rushed over to where he last saw the man, looking over the upturned display to see Vlad sitting up and rubbing at his head.  Danny huffed, climbing over to help him up.  “You okay?”

The older halfa nodded, rubbing his head.  “Yes, I’m fine…” he growled in pain.  “Ouch…”

He glanced up at Danny.  “Was that who I think it was?”

“The mummy ghost of Hotep-Ra, coming back to haunt us with his thousand year old stench?  Yep, the one and only.”

Danny stood, helping bring Vlad back to his feet and began to lead him from the room and crowds to prevent from having to answer any questions.  “I managed to get him to leave, but he took the scepter with him.  I have no idea where he went, but I think he will return if I call for him…”

He frowned, confused by that statement.  “I mean, he said something about me summoning but… I don’t know if it will actually WORK…”

“What?!” Vlad demanded.

He grabbed onto his young charge’s arm.  “Daniel, this is no joking matter,” he hissed under his breath as they left the museum.  “That staff is over two thousand years old, and it carries a spectral charge.  Who knows what powers it contains?!  You need to be careful.”

Danny frowned. “All the more reason to get it back, right?” he asked.  “The ghost has it, so we find him, defeat him, and retrieve the scepter!”

The younger halfa looked around for a bit, making sure no one was eavesdropping, before looking back at Vlad with a concerned expression.  

“Vlad…” Danny whispered. “He thought I was Daalahmon…”

“I don’t doubt it…” his mentor frowned.

They stopped in front of Vlad’s gleaming black Rolls Royce; the billionaire pulled out his keys, unlocked the doors, and slid inside.  “But he also comes from an era where Daalahmon was JUST murdered, badger,” he said as they slammed their respective doors.  “He might have a good idea who killed him…”

Vlad started the engine. “Who he thinks killed YOU…”

 

*~*~*

 

A couple days had passed since the incident at the museum, and Vlad had been spending nearly every moment researching all he could about the reign of Pharaoh Daalahmon.  Danny could understand needing to know one’s enemy, but surely they knew enough to just get Hotep-Ra and suck him up into a thermos?  But every time Danny brought up one of his ideas to take out Hotep-Ra, Vlad told him to wait.

This wouldn’t upset Danny so much, if Vlad would just tell him what they were waiting FOR!  Hotep-Ra thought Danny was Daalahmon, and claimed he would return when summoned.  How hard could it be to summon the guy, grab the scepter, then suck him away into a thermos?  The plan was pretty much flawless!

Danny scowled as he was once again sent out of Vlad’s study.  The man was obsessed!  Fine, he could stick to his books, Danny was actually going to go DO something!

With that thought in mind, he grabbed what he needed, and headed out the door towards the park.  It was the end of a Thursday, so the park should be fairly empty at this time of day.  

Once he reached his chosen destination, Danny prepared himself, cleared his throat…

And called out for the ghost.

“Hotep-Ra!” he cried out.  “Hotep-Ra, I summon you!”

The sky suddenly darkened. The wind picked up, the sound of hundreds of buzzing wings filled the air, and all at once, a dark cloud of locusts descended from the sky to cluster together – a dry, clicking mass of legs and antennae, writhing at Danny’s feet – and then vaporized in a blast of light, leaving Hotep-Ra in their place.  

The mummy ghost bowed.  “My liege, what would you ask of me?”

Danny kept his face neutral, hoping to give nothing away.  He knew he was stronger than this ghost, could likely overtake him easily.  But he didn’t want to have to start a fight if he didn’t need to.  Hotep-Ra thought he was Daalahmon… so maybe if he continued to act like him…

“My scepter is missing, do you know what has become of it?” Danny asked regally.  Perhaps if he could simply get the ghost to hand over the scepter willingly…

Sure enough, Hotep-Ra looked up, crooked and rotting teeth bared in a smile.  “Indeed!”

He straightened up to his full height, reaching inside his bandages, fumbling inside his empty rib cage… and pulled out the scepter.  Once again, Danny was speechless for a moment at the glorious, shimmering gold of it, but the ghost boy noticed quickly that the aura that Vlad had pointed out at the museum was now MUCH stronger.  “I am so glad you have decided to begin your reign anew!” Hotep-Ra said, presenting it to Danny.  “Use it in good health…”

A dark smile twisted his withered lips.  “… my Pharaoh.”

Danny was officially creeped out by this ghost now.  He had been having a bad feeling about him since the very start, hence why he wanted to get rid of him so quickly.  But now, so close…  He was actually feeling a shiver run down his spine.

He needed to take the scepter and then get rid of this ghost, right now!

Without another thought, Danny reached out and took the scepter from Hotep-Ra’s hands.  

The moment his fingers wrapped around the cold metal… Everything went deathly silent.  

Before Danny could even react, a small sand storm suddenly whipped around him, covering his entire form.  A gasp and a scream were quickly cut off and drowned out by the storm, the thermos he had been holding behind his back falling with a dull thud in the grass and rolling away.  After a beat, the sands disappeared, and in their place…

Was NOT Danny.  

It was certainly his body that stood there, but the eyes… It was like a whole other person now resided in his body.  His hair was braided and lengthened into countless strands down to near mid back, jewels wrapped in the braids.  His usually pale body was now a golden brown, covered in gold and gems from head to toe, a blue silk wrap draped around his slim waist.  His eyes were painted with dark coal, making the blue irises seem to glow with an unearthly light.  Atop his head sat a golden mantle, the mark of his rule.

This was no longer Danny Fenton…  This, was Pharaoh Daalahmon.

Daalahmon turned to look down at his servant, eyes cold but curious.  “I had been reincarnated it seems…” he thought aloud.  “Tell me, Hotep-Ra, what year is this?  Where are my people, my kingdom?”

His blue eyes glinted.  “Where is Padiaset?”

The mummy ghost returned to one knee, bowing to his pharaoh.  “It is almost three thousand summers after your dynasty, my liege.  I’m sorry to say that someone murdered you in your sleep…” he told him.  “As for Padiaset…”

His lone green eye gazed up at Daalahmon, filled with fake regret.  “He was the one that did it…”

Daalahmon’s eyes widened a tick, before narrowing.  He turned his back on Hotep-Ra, not allowing the ghost to see what he thought would be a sorrowful or rage filled face.  

Instead… it was one of contemplation.  //Padiaset would do no such thing.  He made an unbreakable vow to protect me, in my life and in the next,// he thought to himself.  //No one knew of this though… Someone must have framed him to make Hotep-Ra think it had been him to murder me…//

Daalahmon turned back to Hotep-Ra, face blank of emotion.  “It matters not.  I am reborn, and you have risen to help me reclaim my kingdom.”

He held his scepter high in the air, ghostly energy and magic beginning to pour from it.  “So let us BEGIN!!”

A wave of great energy burst forth from the scepter as a dimensional warp appeared around them.  Between one second and the next, Hotep-Ra and Daalahmon were no longer in the human realm, but in the Ancient Egyptian ruins of the Ghost Zone.  Before them stood the great palace Daalahmon grew up in from childhood, surrounded by rolling warm sands, temples and battlements.  Servants and citizens alike turned to gaze with great awe, as their long lost ruler returned to them from the dead.  Daalahmon looked up at his kingdom, a soft smile on his lips.

“I am home…”


	2. Chapter Two

Back in Amity Park, the backlash from the scepter echoed through the park and all around the city, causing any ghosts around to look up in confusion. What was THAT…?

In his library, Vlad dropped the book he had been holding.

The hair on the back of his neck rose straight up, his spectral senses beating a tattoo into the base of his skull. “WHAT the…?!” he whispered, eyes wide. Not even bothering to pick up the book he’d dropped, Vlad leapt from his seat and rushed to the fireplace; he pulled the bronzed football lever, rushed down to the basement, and woke up the monitor of his ghost zone probe. Sure enough, there had been a violent discharge of spectral energy, almost as if another entire section of the dimension had been suddenly reawakened!

Vlad tapped the keys, dragging the bar back a few minutes to analyze the sudden imbalance. //What in the world?!// he thought. //Those coordinates… I’ve been there. Barely detectable if you’re not looking for it, but it’s just a grey, translucent ruin…//

Suddenly, Vlad’s eyes widened.

Ruin.

Oh no.

Grabbing up his cell phone, he jabbed Danny’s number on speed dial and held it up to his ear. “Badger, if you did what I think you did, you’re in SO MUCH TROUBLE…!” Vlad murmured to himself, but the threat was minimized by the terror in his eyes.

The other line beeped. “The number you have reached is out of range,” a recorded voice informed him. “If you would like to try a customer service line, please press–”

“MOZZARELLA STICKS, DANIEL!!” Vlad swore, tempted to hurl his phone at the wall.

He’d done it! He’d done EXACTLY what he’d told him NOT TO DO! And now he would have to go into a re-energized area of the Ghost Zone, not even knowing WHAT was waiting for him there…!

Vlad left his phone on the desk and pressed a button on the wall. A steel panel slid back, revealing his anti-ghost weaponry; he pulled a long glaive off the wall… it was a handsome weapon with a curved bronze edge. The older halfa remembered it because it was the only thing he had been able to salvage from those forgotten ruins…

He gave it an experimental swing, eyes narrowing. //Maybe it will give me some sort of advantage in their territory…// he thought, packing a few ecto-grenades and smoke bombs. Some extra firepower never hurt anyone…

With that, Vlad Plasmius appeared in a flash of light and stepped through the portal.

//Why can’t he ever listen to me when it MATTERS…?!//

 

~*~*~

 

Daalahmon lounged on a large cushioned throne, watching with a satisfied expression as his kingdom grew and grew, becoming reborn from the energy his scepter was supplying through him. He accepted a goblet of wine from a passing servant girl, giving her a kind smile before she disappeared amongst the other workers.

Daalahmon took a sip of his drink, gaze turning to Hotep-Ra. He stood beside his throne, eyes locked with the rejuvenating kingdom. “Beautiful, is it not?”

Daalahmon waved away another servant who brought him food, finding he was not hungry. “It won’t be long now till it is as it once was… And my rule can begin anew…”

Jewel like blue eyes cast to the side once more to look at Hotep-Ra, expression emotionless, but keen eyes watching the ghost. “It is… fortunate, that you managed to find me before the reborn or risen Padiaset could…” he probed, keeping his voice neutral.

“It is also fortunate that Padiaset was never reborn,” Hotep-Ra replied, his smile smug as he gazed out over the golden horizon. “After his execution, I made sure to destroy all of his records and sculptures so that his soul would never find its way to the River Styx. He is no doubt drifting endlessly between here and the afterlife even as we speak.”

“Hmm… I see.”

Outwardly, Daalahmon looked no different then he was before, but inwardly… Inwardly, he wept for his lost guardian, his protector…

His lover.

“Hotep-Ra…Please clear out the throne room… ” the young ruler requested quietly. “I wish to be alone with my thoughts for a while…”

The mummy ghost bowed. “Certainly, my king.”

Daalahmon laid back further on his side on the cushioned dias, appearing to be resting. Hotep-Ra was surprised by the command, but wasted no time in obeying them. As soon as the last person was gone from the quiet throne room, Daalahmon placed a hand against his face and wept.

“Oh… Oh my dear Padia…!” he cried softly. “Have I truly lost you? Are you gone from me forever?”

No one was there to answer or comfort the poor pharaoh, as he cried his heart out for the one man he had ever truly loved…

 

~*~*~

 

The ghastly green vacuum of the ghost zone flew past Vlad as he soared towards the recorded coordinates. It wasn’t hard to find; keening spirits fled from the expanding plane of existence, screaming in alarm and pain.

Vlad’s crimson eyes glanced around at the aftermath. “This is bad…” he realized aloud, taking note of the tormented shrieks, and his own ghostly energy spasming and flickering against the darkness. “The restoration of those ruins have caused an imbalance in the energy of the Ghost Zone! If this goes on for much longer, the whole dimension might fall into disarray! And who knows what that might mean for the Earth…”

He turned his attention back to the front… and he glided to a halt, eyes wide with shock. “Oh, dear–!”

Vlad had arrived at the coordinates. Laid out below him was a great tear in the fabric of the Ghost Zone, bleeding violet plumes of energy and dissolving into the atmosphere like blood in water. He could feel the power of the scepter magnified by a thousand – bearing the smell of sand and sweat and lilies on the Nile. Even as he watched, the rip expanded, dumping a new cloud of the purple essence into the Ghost Zone. When it did, Vlad felt a shiver go through his body, and spirits shrieked in pain behind him.

The dark-haired ghost flinched in discomfort. “Mmm…” he growled.

The bronze glaive vibrated in his grip; Vlad’s fingers tightened around it, a silent order to behave. The thing had been acting up the closer they got to the rip… like it was trying to tell him something.

For now, Vlad shook it off. Daniel came first.

“Well…” the older halfa murmured. “Here goes nothing…”

And he descended into the ancient lands of Daalahmon.

 

*~*~*

 

Daalahmon’s head snapped up as a gasp of shock left his lips. That energy… That presence!

//Could it be?…//

Daalahmon quickly fled from the throne room, making sure no one saw or heard him leave. He tucked the scepter into his sash as he disappeared from the palace entirely, quickly making his way to the outskirts of his kingdom.

//I knew he wouldn’t leave me, he couldn’t!//

Daalahmon stopped as he crested over a large dune, gazing down lovingly at a small, well hidden oasis. He and Padiaset had found this place long ago, and had claimed it their own. Palm trees grew tall and in dense clumps, casting the grassy area in shade and blocking the center from view. Daalahmon eagerly slipped past the trees and smiled when he found their large tent and supplies still there, untouched by time. He circled around the crystal clear waters that made up the center of the oasis, and peeked inside the tent. Everything was the same, but…

There was no Padiaset.

Daalahmon’s heart plummeted, sadness once more dashing his hope. He swore he had felt his presence close to here, was so sure he would find him in their special place…

//He can’t be gone… He can’t be!//

Suddenly, behind him, there was a flash of light.

FWASH!! BOOM!

With a sound like a sonic blast, Vlad fell through a rip in space and time, stumbling forward as his feet hit sand. The end of his glaive stabbed into the dune, barely keeping him upright. The older halfa yelped, disoriented by his surroundings… then blinked, staring at a stranger – strangely translucent and rippling – right below him. The stranger stared back.

Only when they blinked at the same moment did Vlad realize he was looking at his reflection… in the clear water of an oasis.

A tall, silver-haired Egyptian searched his face in confusion. He wasn’t quite in human form anymore, but not quite ghost, either; his eyes glowed like fiery coals, and his skin had taken on a soft bluish-green tint. His hair was long and braided down his back, woven with gold and silvery white with age, under a headdress that gleamed with bronze, inlaid rubies, and clean white silk. He was dressed in long white robes, along with a gem-studded bronze belt… but there was a strange scar that completely encircled his throat; it stung… like a half-healed paper cut… but the glaive in his fist now gleamed like gold, polished and new, rubies and glowing fuschia topaz where holes had once been in the shaft. It was a glorious weapon.

Suddenly, Vlad became aware that the bronze… the bronze was WHISPERING to him… filling his mind with pictures and murmured words, but they slipped from his grasp, like half-forgotten memories–

“Padiaset!” cried out a young, but so familiar voice.

Daalahmon had seen his lost lover crash into the sands before the crystal waters, looking like he had so many years ago, but not. There was an aura around him, like film hovering over a picture…

But this mattered not to the young Pharaoh, because there was his lover, alive and whole!

He ran from the tent to stop before the older man, kneeling down in front of him as tears of joy gathered in his eyes. “Padiaset, my love, you have returned to me!” he gasped.

“I– Daniel!!” Vlad exclaimed.

His red eyes went wide at the sight of his lover – looking VERY nice in Egyptian garb and with such long hair, but that was BESIDE the point – and knelt, using the glaive as a crutch to aid his spinning head. “Badger, are you all… Aahhhh…!” he groaned, clutching his head. The whispers were growing louder, more insistent.

Daalahmon frowned, confused. “What? Padiaset, it’s me! It’s your Daala! Don’t you…”

He gasped, understanding clearing his confused mind. A warm smile spread across his lips, eyes shining in happiness. “Oh… Oh of course!” he exclaimed. “You were reincarnated, just like I was! Just like you promised! But your anchor is not as strong as mine, you haven’t remembered yet!”

Gently, Daalahmon raised a hand towards Vlad’s face. “It’s alright, I’m here. I’ll help you.”

His cool hand came in contact with Vlad’s cheek, and they were suddenly both lost to memories and a time long forgotten…

 

~*~*~

 

THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO…

“It was a fine meeting, my Pharaoh. You did well.”

Daalahmon and Padiaset walked down the halls of the royal palace. The young pharaoh gazed over his kingdom, the golden dust rose from the sculptures and monuments that were always being built, the tall and wise advisers of the court, the sweat gleaming on the dark, tanned backs of the laborers, even the fair white petals of river lilies and gossamer curtains… all highlighting the swollen scarlet sun that was setting in the west. The ancient world smelled like hard work and slow progress, but they knew nothing else, and so the young Pharaoh Daalahmon – only fifteen years old – was content.

A soft smiled graced his lips. “Yes, thank you. Without your advice however, I fear I would have lost my footing among the elders. They speak so quickly…”

He smiled kindly to a servant as they opened the doors to his chambers, pulling back a multitude of curtains before they entered the richly decorated rooms of the Pharaoh. Daalahmon gestured vaguely to the servants as he entered. “Lock up the room for privacy, my adviser and I must further discuss the upcoming trade agreement with the south,” he ordered.

The servants obeyed, pulling down thicker curtains to muffle sound and block the windows, before closing all doors…

And then they were alone.

Padiaset grabbed the young pharaoh, yanking him flush with his own body and sealing his mouth over Daalahmon’s. “Mmmm…! Ah…” he breathed. Gold and jewels clicked and chimed as his hands moved worshipfully up and down the adolescent’s sides. He reverently removed the Pharoah’s winged headdress and placed it on its stand beside the bed.

“I thought that meeting would never end…” Padiaset murmured, returning to the Pharaoh’s lips hungrily. “Mm…”

Daalahmon whined into the taller man’s mouth, his small body pressing tight to his guardians. He panted, mouth open and lips already a swollen red.

“Y-you say that a-about every m-m-meeting! Ah!”

He flushed as a large hand came down and began to unwrap the silk from around his waist, letting the fabric fall at his feet. His nude body–save for the multiple jewels–arched into Padiaset’s hands. He moaned wantonly, glazed blue eyes gazing up at his lover lustfully.

“You–AH!!–are v-very impatient todaaaahhHHH~!!”

“Forgive me, my Pharaoh…”

The adviser traced up the lean muscles of the Pharaoh’s back and lay him down – face up – on his bed.

“I can’t help myself…” Padiaset murmured, and descended on Daalahmon.

The guards, standing outside the door, were paid and sworn to secrecy with the most sacred of blood oaths – even when they heard, very clearly, the highest blasphemy that anyone could commit in their world; a mortal man being dominant over a god in human form, as did the ancient Egyptians view their pharaohs. Pharaoh Daalahmon and his adviser, Padiaset, had been very close since the young Pharaoh was born, emotionally intimate since he was ten years old, and physically intimate since the youth could BE physically intimate. If their relationship had come to light, Padiaset would be executed for blasphemy against the gods. It was one thing if Daalahmon had been the one holding the reins over the older man… but he NEVER was.

And in the darkness of the palace, an adviser began to scheme. The man was power hungry, and intended to seize the crown by killing the young Pharaoh.

Even if he was unaware of their true level of intimacy, he knew Padiaset was the closest one to Daalahmon. He was the one who would, in theory, have the MOST opportunities to kill the young royal. And if it was done with his own weapon… there would be no room for doubt.

So, one night, just after the Pharaoh’s sixteenth birthday… a dark shadow crept into Daalahmon’s room when he was sleeping, holding aloft Padiaset’s favorite bronze glaive–!

And froze, eyes wide as he saw the aftermath of the pair’s birthday “celebration.”

Killing the sleeping Daalahmon woke Padiaset. In his rage and despair, the elder ripped his glaive out of his lover and pursued his Pharaoh’s murderer, screaming blood and revenge – but the other adviser’s plans couldn’t have turned out better if he had planned it. The guards arrested Padiaset, still dripping in Daalahmon’s blood, covered in the evidence of their intercourse, and holding the very weapon that killed the young king. There was no trial. He was beheaded.

The adviser – who had truly killed Daalahmon and framed Padiaset – was none other than…

“Hotep-Ra…!” Vlad breathed.

 


	3. Chapter Three

**PRESENT DAY**

Daalahmon fell out of the memories with a gasp, falling into the sands where he lay panting.  He stared up the sky in shock, having not only shared his memories with his reincarnated lover, but had also seen Padiaset’s memories.

The memory of his murder…

A hand came to rest over his chest, where the glaive had pierced him in his sleep.  He looked up at his lover, who seemed to be in some state of shock.  He reached up for him with shaking hands, a relieved, but frightened smile on his face.  

“I knew you had not killed me… I knew it could never have been you…”

Padiaset dragged his lover across the sands and held him close, after millenia of silence – of loneliness.  “Never me!  NEVER… my Pharaoh…!” he gasped in denial.  “That treacherous snake, Hotep-Ra, he–!”

“I saw, my love.”

Daalahmon wrapped his arms around the older man’s shoulders, holding him to himself.  “I saw what he did, through your eyes…” he whispered.  “Fear not, my love, I NEVER believed it was you…”

He pulled back, blue eyes nearly glowing with rage and determination.  “We will make him pay dearest, pay for what he did to me, and to you.”

His anger cooled for a moment and he turned to look with fondness at their oasis, the tent untouched.  “He told me he had all knowledge and records of you destroyed… but he never found this place,” he murmured.  “This is where your memory still remained, and this is how you were able to move on with me, into the next life.”

His smile faded just a touch, but his expression was still pleasant, simply confused, curious.

“I… I do not remember my new life… The scepter has yet to balance the knowledge within my mind.  Tell me,”  he turned to look at Padiaset.  “What is your name in this life?  What is mine?  Have… Have you managed to find me in this life?  Is it… Is it better, than what we had before?…”

The ancient Egyptian smiled softly, running his hand through Daalahmon’s many braids.  “It is –” he began.

Suddenly, he paused, red eyes contemplative, and then actually LAUGHED.  “Haha!  It is a bit unusual, actually… My name is Vlad Masters, and yours is Daniel Fenton.  You come from a family that labors to capture and destroy spirits… yet both you AND I are half-spirit ourselves.”

Daalahmon gasped.  “Half-spirit?!  That is possible?!”

“Apparently so.  There is all sorts of strange witchcraft that the people of this time perform by shaping metal and mixing potions.  They call it ‘science,’” Padiaset informed him, amused.  “Both you and I were involved in separate misfires of the same type of ritual, and now we are gods amongst men… whether it be fate or simply coincidence.”

The older Egyptian continued to stroke his hair.   “We keep our abilities a secret, because we don’t want them to hunt us down…” he murmured.  “But while that may sound perilous, fighting for our lives, it is simply a part of everyday life.  It really is better than what we had here.  I have my own palace, and you are allowed to come visit me, and while they don’t know what we do there, we don’t have to worry!  We’re safe and sound… allowed to love…”

Daalahmon sighed happily, leaning into Padiaset’s touch.  “It sounds wonderful…”

For a moment they sat like that, simply embracing each other and soaking up the love and company they had lost so many years ago.  Finally, Daalahmon opened his eyes and sat up, looking up to meet his lovers gaze.  

“I want that.  I want our present selves, this, this Daniel and Vlad, to have the life we did not… But we can’t be freed from this place, not as we are…”

Daahlamon looked out past the edges of his kingdom, seeing the bleeding skyline and rip in the very fabric of reality.  “Look at this…” he whispered.  “Look at the mess that Hotep-Ra has created, and all for a power that means NOTHING in death…”

Padiaset’s expression grew sad at the young man’s words… then sobered, looking at him urgently.  “I am not sure how long we have, Daala,” he murmured.  “It is that very power that is unravelling the fabric of space and time.”

They both looked down at the scepter.  “When we destroy it… we will vanish as well…”

Crimson gaze met crystal blue – both steely and determined.  “We should use our last moments wisely,” Padiaset murmured, eyes blazing.  “Don’t you agree?”

Daalahmon blushed crimson under that gaze, the deep voice sending chills down his spine.  He blinked, unsure.  “Um, just to clear up any confusion, you do mean to go get our revenge…  Yes?”

An eyebrow raised.  “Revenge.”

“Ah!  Right, of course!”  

Daalamon, with the help of Padiaset, stood back up on unsteady legs.  He glanced to his lover slyly.  “Yes, I’m sure we will have plenty of time wherever we will go in our next life, don’t you agree?”

He picked up his scepter, gaze trained on the city in the distance.  “But first, we must preserve the life we have presently, before it is taken from us once more.”

He looked to his lover with bright eyes and wicked grin.  “Come, Padia… Let us go remove Hotep-Ra’s head from his shoulders.”

 

~*~

 

//Where IS that brat?  And more importantly, where is the SCEPTER?!//

Hotep-Ra flew from room to room, his bandages fluttering behind him agitatedly as he searched for the boy king.  In his plans all those eons ago, when he still had flesh and walked with a beating heart, killing Daalahmon had been just the first stepping stone; there were many more possible heirs to destroy before he could take the throne of Egypt.  However, Hotep-Ra had only managed to kill that whore of a pharaoh and his troublesome advisor before an unfortunate cup of poisoned wine had ended his career.  However, the coffin of resurrection –  commissioned by Daalahmon and meant for Padiaset – was still inscribed with the mystical runes and mirror inlay needed to invoke the spell.  In his last words, Hotep-Ra had ordered that the coffin be made his own, so that one day he might finally possess the royal scepter and finish what he started all those centuries ago…

And NOW that little slut had disappeared RIGHT when the final preparations were about to be made!  

Hotep-Ra snarled, glowing with ghostly energy as he paced angrily along the walkway. //I’ll carve his heart out this time instead of just STABBING it–!//

Then, he happened to glance up at the faraway gate…

And saw none other than the young Pharaoh Daalahmon walking up the path towards the palace, followed by a cloaked stranger.  Who was that?  Oh, no matter.

The mummy ghost took off from the walkway – soaring over the nearly finished city and landing at the gate, falling into a bow as Daalahmon approached.  “My Pharaoh!” he proclaimed.  “When you left, so did the power of the scepter and we had to stop production!  Where did you go?  I was concerned!”

The pharaoh’s smile did not meet his eyes as he looked down at his ‘loyal’ servant.  In truth, he wished to sneer down at the man and kick in his bowed head.  Instead, his face remained calm and placid.

“Fear not, Hotep-Ra, I was out seeking answers.”

He took a step to the side, looking back over at the hooded stranger that came to stand beside him.  This time, the smile did reach his eyes and lit up his whole being.

“And look, the answers came to me…”

Padiaset threw off his hood, long white braid flowing in the wind and gaze blazing like fire.

Hotep-Ra’s body went dead still.

**CRASH!!**

Bronze glaive met blade-like tentacles of cloth in a cataclysmic clash.  The shockwave erased the dunes around the gate, Daalahmon’s long black hair clinking wildly amongst his jewels as Padiaset and Hotep-Ra fought tooth and nail through the city.  The two smashed through a sphinx and a dozen rows of titanic columns.  Deadly stone shards flew everywhere.  Ghosts of the laborers and overseers screamed and fled. Royals cried out, shielding their spectral heads as Padiaset slammed Hotep-Ra away from him – glaive flashing against the eerie violet sky – and down into the throne room.  

The mummy ghost crashed to the floor, cracking the marble.  “YOU!” Hotep-Ra yelled, his green eye wide.  “But that’s impossible!!”

“Whether it is possible or not, I am HERE, you treacherous ASP…!” Padiaset hissed.

Between one beat and the next, Daalahmon suddenly appeared directly behind Hotep-Ra, a wicked smirk stretching his lips.  The mummy’s eyes widened when he sensed his presence.

“Now, do split your focus properly~”

Hotep-Ra whirled around, coming face to face with the pharaoh’s glowing scepter, his eyes reflecting that glow with malicious intent.  “There is more than one of us you have wronged, you MAGGOT!” Daalahmon roared.

BOOM!!

The traitorous ghost was blasted back nearly a mile, crashing through some of the palace walls.  No guards came to his aid and all others fled his presence.  

No one came between the Pharaoh and his prey…

In an instant, the boy was on top of Hotep-Ra again, taking hold of the ghost within an orb of power and slamming him from floor to ceiling to wall again, then smashing him to the floor.  Approaching the spirit of his ultimate betrayer, Daalahmon grabbed Hotep-Ra by the front, going to haul him upright.

When suddenly, a huge, crusty hand grabbed the scepter.  “YOU!” Hotep-Ra growled.  “ARE!”

Daalamon snarled, trying to yank it back–!

“NO!”

Hotep-Ra violently grabbed the young man, ripped him away from the scepter, and hurled him into the sky with the force of a wrecking ball.  “PHARAOH!!”

Daalahmon cried out when he was sent flying, soaring high into the rippling violet sky, and landed with a deafening WHUMP upon the sand.  For a split second, he was unconscious, laying there prone and unmoving…

The mummy ghost floated above his limp form, scepter raised and glowing.  “You are a CHILD!!” Hotep-Ra hissed down at him.  “NOTHING but a snot-nosed BRAT who doesn’t know how to tie his own SANDALS, let alone rule the land of the Nile!!  I did my country a service by killing you and your PATHETIC LOVER.”

The scepter began to glow white-hot with power.  “And now, I’M GOING TO DO IT AGAIN~” Hotep-Ra sneered.

He brought it down–!

_SLAM!_

Both Vlad and Padiaset intercepted the glowing instrument, catching the scepter on the shaft of his glaive, angling it down, and striking Hotep-Ra in the jaw.  “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM AGAIN!!” cried one voice that belonged to both.

The mummy ghost roared in fury and attacked Daalahmon’s protector.  “AND YOU WILL NOT STAND IN MY WAY AGAIN!!”

The two ghosts went at each other, for the final time–!  

_**CRASH!!** _

 

~*~

 

“Mnn…”  From the sands, Daalahmon’s form began to stir, rising up on onto his hands and knees before finally standing once more on unsteady feet.  A hand came up to rub at his head, groaning softly in pain.

“Someone get the number off the truck that hit me?  I wanna sue…”

Familiar blue eyes blinked open and Danny once again was in control of his own body.  His hair and dress remained the same, but his eyes returned to their baby blue instead of sapphire, and his skin returned to a milky white.  He looked around in confusion at the Egyptian ruins around him, jumping in place when a loud crash sounded from behind him.

He turned around, watching Vlad–no, Padiaset–battle with Hotep-Ra…

And then the memories came flooding in.  Daalahmon’s life, HIS past life, projected against his mind in HD technicolor.  He winced at the headache this caused him, but the pain passed quickly, leaving him winded, fatigued…

And ANGRY.

Rings of light flashed and parted from his middle, long black braided hair turned white, gold turned silver and white cloth turned black.  Toxic jade green eyes glowed with rage from a pale face, locking onto Hotep-Ra’s form.

 

A crater was left behind in the sand as Danny took off after him like a bat out of hell.

Hotep-Ra kicked Padiaset in the chest and yanked his glaive away from him.  He hit the far wall of a broken building, the last of his long white braid whipping loose as he crouched to the sand with a wince.  

“HAHA!” the mummy ghost yelled, crossing both weapons.  CLANG!

Power sparked and hissed from where they touched, streaking from the blackening sky and striking like lightning bolts throughout the ruins.  The rip in reality began to unravel even faster.  Ancient power poured forth like water from a rupture bucket.  Behind Padiaset’s eyes, Vlad’s own widened in alarm, his skin covered in goosebumps as the ground rumbled beneath them.  At this rate, the entire Ghost Zone would collapse in MINUTES–!

Then, suddenly, a pale shadow streaked out of nowhere and punched Hotep-Ra right in the jaw.

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

The traitor was sent flying, breaking yet another column in two.  CRASH!

Danny towered over the fallen ghost, eyes glowing like green flames and long white braids whipping around in the wind.  He bent down and picked up the scepter Hotep-Ra had dropped when he crashed.  

“This, is not yours.”

Danny held the scepter high above his head, blue energy seeping from it and mixing with his own jade green.  The sands swirled around him and lightning flashed across the sky.  

“It doesn’t belong to me either, but unlike you, I’ve been given a pass.”

In the next flash of light, Hotep-Ra saw the shadow of his Pharaoh standing beside the ghost child, hand on top of his as he held the scepter aloft.  Those haunting blue eyes gazed at him, damning him straight to hell.  He was gone in the next flash, but the one sight had been enough.

Danny floated up into the air, turning the scepter down on Hotep-Ra.

“May what you have caused now be made undone, to never have passed and right all wrongs.”

The rip began to shrink and close around them, the ancient kingdom of Daalahmon crumbling and folding in on itself.  Danny’s powers blazed brighter and brighter, voice taking on a dual echo, as Daalahmon spoke with him.

“And may this death, be your LAST.”

Hotep-Ra, frozen in the state of horror as he was, never saw his fate coming up behind him till it was too late. In the shadow of a moment, Vlad’s claws unsheathed.

CRACK.

Then, he stood next to Danny – blood red eyes glaring back at Hotep-Ra…

But the traitor ghost saw them upside down.

Slowly, his vision went dark.  Collapsing gently into the sand, the thump was obscured by a swift wind – blowing away the mummy’s spirit in bits and pieces – until, finally, there was nothing left.

And then all was silent.

After a moment, Danny turned to glance at Vlad, but he saw the man’s focus elsewhere.  He followed his line of sight, and gasped at the wispy spectrals that stood before them.  Two ancient spirits that looked – and felt – very familiar, walking hand and hand towards their silently crumbling home, silver strands tangling with black braids. Blue eyes meeting brown.

Daalahmon turned away from the afterlife… to smile at Danny, and raise a hand in farewell.

“Thank you… May your life be long and happy…”

The young pharaoh turned to gaze adoringly up at the restored, dark-eyed Padiaset, who returned that gaze with his own.  Danny and Vlad watched as the two vanished in a soft sparkle of light, finally moving on, together.

 

The moment they vanished… the scarab jewel in the scepter cracked and went dim.

Danny felt a tear fall down his cheek, a strange mix of sadness and joy filling his heart…

CRASH!

“HOOO SHOOT!!”  Danny exclaimed, barely dodging a falling column.  “We need to GO!!”

Vlad jumped, startled out of the mystique of their past lives moving on, then realized very quickly the imminent danger they were IN and grabbed Danny by the sash.  “NO KIDDING!” he cried, blasting off into the crumbling sky.  

Now that the scepter was destroyed, the power that sustained its reborn plane of existence was cut off, cold turkey.  Spirits vanished into nothing.  Blackness raced up the edges of the once-great city, marble cracking and shattering, golden sands and rich violet strips of sky flickering transparent and monochrome.  The darkness raced to catch up with Vlad and Danny, reality screaming for its return to oblivion–!

Outside, in the Ghost Zone, the rip stayed open for one, quiet moment…

Then… snapped closed with a shockwave that rippled through the entire spectral realm.  Any ghost within a mile radius was blown back as balance was suddenly restored to the fabric of time and space.  BAM!

A few seconds of rippling and jiggling later… everything was silent again.

Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom clung to each other, breathing like they’d just run a marathon.  “That…!” the older ghost gasped, long black hair rippling around them, blue skin pale, and scarlet eyes wide with residual terror.  “That was close…!”

Danny nodded wildly, his white braids floating in the vacuum, staring at the empty space that once housed a whole kingdom with wild green eyes.  “I’ll say…”

Danny blinked after a moment – then turned to look at his mentor in amused curiosity.  “So… past lives, huh?”

Vlad scowled at him.

He smacked him over the back of the head.  Whap!  “And THAT’S for not LISTENING TO ME!!”

 

~*~*~

 

A few hours later and they were once more back at Vlad’s manor in Amity Park.  Danny had left Vlad in the bedroom to change while he tried to sort himself out in the bathroom.  The sash came off easily enough but the jewelry and mantle gave him a little bit of trouble.  Finally, he had the whole ensemble piled up on the bathroom counter.  He stood there before the mirror in a simple pair of black boxer briefs, looking at his hair.

His hair remained in the state it had changed to when Daalahmon had occupied his body.  It was long, reaching past the small of his back, and was twisted into a multitude of thin, tiny braids, like elves had somehow done it.  Each braid was capped at the end with a piece of gold and gemstones were weaved into every strand, causing the hair to glitter and glisten in the soft lighting of the bathroom. 

He frowned, reaching up to play with a braided chunk of his hair.  He huffed out a sigh.  “Great, this is going to take forever to undo…

“And what am I going to do with all this HAIR??”  

Suddenly, the door opened… and a big, warm hand touched his neck.

Vlad pressed up flush against his back, sinking all his powerful fingers into the long, bejeweled braids and leaning close – pressing the side of his face into Danny’s neck.  Unlike Danny, the older halfa fell in love with Padiaset’s hair the moment he had let it loose.  Thick, soft, and a vibrant silvery white, the long locks cascaded all the way down his back and even brushed the top of his thighs.  Apparently, the longer Vlad’s hair became, the more of a natural, gentle curl it displayed.  Shorter, thinner strands were illuminated pure gold in the warm light of his bathroom – almost glowing all by themselves – making it look like the older man had an truly unearthly shine about him.

“Oh…” Vlad purred, pulling a flushing Danny backwards into the bedroom.  “I have some ideas…”


End file.
